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FQ's trips around the globe

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Kite159

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So you don't like 314s ;)

Sounded like another good day in Glasgow scoring units and a few shacks, I'm looking forward to heading back to Glasgow in a few weeks time as I haven't been since January
 
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FQ

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So you don't like 314s ;)

Sounded like another good day in Glasgow scoring units and a few shacks, I'm looking forward to heading back to Glasgow in a few weeks time as I haven't been since January
Most certainly not ;)

Units or shacks when you're in Glasgow?



I'm now finally completely up to date with my reports!

I'd like that mars bar fried please day 4 - No more Scotland

I took the top bunk again on our ride south from Glasgow and dropped off before we'd left Carstairs. I strangely slept very well, waking up at the junction just before Nuneaton and watching us race through the station, before sleeping again through to Euston, where we arrived an excellent 52 early! Luckily they didn't chuck everyone off at this point and let us sleep, dad and I eventually getting up at 07:30, getting more sleep after waking upon arrival! Dad had slept well too, getting to sleep before Carstairs and waking as we went over Crewe North Junction, just before passing MK and where I did upon arrival at Euston but he also got to sleep after arrival. I was a tired mess but got ready anyway and we were soon bailing.

The noise of MK3 doors slamming in the morning was excellent and we were surprised to see that the loco that was to take our stock back to Willesden wasn't on yet. It was meant to be so we checked RTT but decided to head off after seeing that it hadn't even left Willesden yet. It eventually got there 18 late at 07:53 according to RTT. We saw the Highland sleeper arrive while at the back of our train, 90046 leading, before walking back down the long train, passing 90044, which had pulled us south, before heading to the concourse.

It was now just before 08:00 and we didn't know whether to get a travelcard for the morning or not. We wanted to get coffee and brekky, which would only leave us about 2 hours in the end, which we decided wasn't worth the £2 so we just headed away from Euston station and over to the same Costa that we'd visited after getting to Euston on the sleeper from Inverness. Dad got a latte, me going for a hot chocolate but, when I asked for my large hot choc, I was asked if I'd like one of their special Christmas hot chocolates and then got listed them. I decided to go for one, a black forest hot choc (I was curious about it and wanted to see how good, or not good, it was) and dad and I took the same seats that we had when we came here last. Our drinks soon arrived, my hot choc absolutely huge with whipped cream on top, with cherry sauce too. Although it doesn't sound too good, it most certainly was and I enjoyed that while tackling my numbers (for sight), which I hadn't even done since my first day. Easy to say that I had lots of winners!

During our morning drinks, I decided to try something using my subway smartcard from the evening before. We were right next to steps leading down to Euston Square tube stop so I wanted to try tapping it on the Oyster reader to see what it said so, when we finished, I headed down to the barriers and tried it. It simply said 'seek assistance' so I just headed back, but noticed the ticket machines with the oyster readers just by the stairs. I had to! The first time I tapped it, the TVM said 'purchase cancelled' and then you had to press the screen for the next customer. I did so and then tried it again, at which point the stupid thing said closed with white writing on a black background. Oh well! It was worth it to see what and out of date Glasgow subway ticket would do on London's subway!

We'd decided to walk to Marylebone, as we had ages until our train was booked out. We'd selected a route that would take us through Regents Park for most of the walk, so we headed out after I emerged from Euston Square tube shack. On the way over to the park, I recognized a non-busy street with few cars and pedestrians that I'd never been to before. I couldn't place where I'd seen it before, before seeing the cafe on the street. I then immediately knew. The cafe was called 'Speedy's Sandwich bar and cafe', located on North Gower Street. I recognized it from 'Sherlock' (as in Sherlock Holmes), as his house in the TV show was located on top of that cafe, not in Baker Street apparently! We confirmed when we got back home and I was right.

We continued through Regents Park on this lovely morning and were soon on Baker Street and getting to Marylebone. We headed onto the concourse and saw that the inbound working of our set was due in in a matter of minutes so we waited for it, visiting Hotel Chocolate in the meantime. I decided to try my subway ticket here too, tapping it a few times on the ticket machines for the LU (none of them closed this time - they just kept on saying purchase cancelled). I then tried it on the tube barriers, seeing that it simply said seek assistance again, just like at Euston Square. We then wandered over to the heavy rail barriers in time to see a DVT approaching. Thank god! We were surprised to see that it was a blue one, but we didn't know which of the two it was and didn't find out until after brekky, which we got in our usual Marylebone brekky location just across the road from the station. This was on me this morning so we visited the cash point before heading there. I went for a list B with extra fried bread, dad simply going for a list B, and our excellent brekkies were soon here. They went down just brilliantly as usual - much, much better than the Wetherspoon in Glasgow, that's for sure. After that, we headed back over to the station and I tried my subway card on the Oyster things on the national rail barriers but it was 'seek assistance' again. Instead, we just went through with our advance tickets back to Leam on the 11:10. It was only about 10:15 at this point, so we had a while to wait, but headed up to the front of the platform and waited in the sun. I was disappointed to see that it was 68008 up front as 68009 is my lowest mileage cat at 483 miles, and the only one required for 500. Dad was very happy with it though, as he'd clear it by Leam (for 1000).

We spent a bit of time trainspotting and working out the chances that the next 165 arriving would be required for me, and I was also in a 'texting war' with 185143, who seems to be under the impression that a) Voyagers are good and b) it's worth paying to go from Manchester to Coventry and back for a free return journey on a 221. Crazy or what?

The doors to our set were unlocked at about 10:50 and we got on board and got a decent bay of 4 for the ride north. Avenger was soon thrashing away from Marylebone, with excellent noise through the tunnels, and we were racing through the suburbs in a matter of minutes. It was an uneventful, but fun journey, which I continued with my numbers on and we were soon making it to Leamington with an on time arrival of 12:25. We got off and stood watching Avenger continue its journey before heading back to where mum had dropped us off. She was in the car waiting for us so, after saying hi and stuff, we headed home after an amazing, productive trip that was very, very fun!

I'm sure that some of you are now wondering how I did in the trip overall. For sight, I now need 3 314s, 4 318s, 1 320, 5 334s and 4 380s (3 of them 3 car, the other one 4 car). That's a pretty large increase from needing all 314s, 318s and 320s, and having had a small amount of the 334s and needing all 3 car 380s and two 4 car ones. Now then. Haulage. I needed all of the 314s, 318s, 320s and 334s, with only 3 of the 380s having been had. This is now down to needing 15 314s (all but one), 6 318s, 3 320s (including one of the ex LM dustys), 10 334s and 18 380s. Finally, the amount of winners scored. Heavy rail (excluding tube, DLR and Glasgow subway), the winner count was exactly 100. No kidding! When you throw light rail into the mix that goes up to 111. I think that it was a pretty successful trip!
 

507021

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Another excellent report FQ, glad you're finally up to date with your reports. An excellent winner count too, well done. :)

One thing I've managed to beat you to is clearing the 314s, but you're ahead of me on everything else!
 

Kite159

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Units or shacks when you're in Glasgow?

First couple days is shacks, hopefully scoring some units, shifting over to unit hunting on the last full day (in between a trip on the sleeper to Bridge of Orchy and a trip on a Voyager forming the 21:05 Edinburgh service to try and get the PSUL over the Edinburgh Suburban line
 

Techniquest

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I had a massive reply earlier, then closed the browser and lost it :oops:

I'm going up in January myself, major clearout of shacks and MUs. I can't believe you didn't like the 314s!
 

Kite159

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IIRC you liked the 315s on TFL Rail (or was it LO), the 314s are pretty much the same inside. Apart from automatic door opening, which is great on the multi-stop Cathcart service route where stops are within a minute or so of each other, not so great when out on Cyle services
 

Cowley

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314s are great.
That is all.

BRs finest :).
I enjoyed reading all the Scottish stuff MrQ, bought back memories. I don't know what it is about me sometimes wishing to live at the opposite end of the country? I expect if I lived up there I'd miss down here though.
I really want to wake up in a mk3 sleeper like that, with the doors slamming at Euston/Glasgow/Fort William/Inverness, before they've all gone. Only done it once and that was only from Preston to Dundee in 1998. All the other times I slept in the normal coaches... I woke up (red 47/7 at the front) and realised it was nearly time to get off. Incredibly tired, I stepped out into the corridor to find an enormous red haired guy who was actually wearing a kilt and was staring out wistfully at the mist on the water as we crossed the Tay.
I mumbled "good morning" at him just to be friendly.
He just stared at me though, which was a little unnerving to be honest.
I sometimes wonder if it was all a dream, but I don't think it was :lol:
 
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FQ

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Another excellent report FQ, glad you're finally up to date with your reports. An excellent winner count too, well done. :)

One thing I've managed to beat you to is clearing the 314s, but you're ahead of me on everything else!
Cheers! I don't think I want to clear the 314s, but well done at managing to get that!

First couple days is shacks, hopefully scoring some units, shifting over to unit hunting on the last full day (in between a trip on the sleeper to Bridge of Orchy and a trip on a Voyager forming the 21:05 Edinburgh service to try and get the PSUL over the Edinburgh Suburban line
A Voyager?! You're in Scotland for goodness sake! Even you need units and shacks up there ;)! You can't get a Voyager! Also, on a nicer note, do you need any 320s?

I had a massive reply earlier, then closed the browser and lost it :oops:

I'm going up in January myself, major clearout of shacks and MUs. I can't believe you didn't like the 314s!
Darn it - I've done that before too. Sounds like a good trip will be had! The 314s are awful...

IIRC you liked the 315s on TFL Rail (or was it LO), the 314s are pretty much the same inside. Apart from automatic door opening, which is great on the multi-stop Cathcart service route where stops are within a minute or so of each other, not so great when out on Cyle services
I've never had a TFL one - it was LO - and I found them awful too! I understand that it's good on the Cathcart circle but maybe if the Cathcart circle was 200 miles further South. It's not suitable in units without heating in Glasgow!

314s are great.
That is all.
No... ;)

BRs finest :).
I enjoyed reading all the Scottish stuff MrQ, bought back memories. I don't know what it is about me sometimes wishing to live at the opposite end of the country? I expect if I lived up there I'd miss down here though.
I really want to wake up in a mk3 sleeper like that, with the doors slamming at Euston/Glasgow/Fort William/Inverness, before they've all gone. Only done it once and that was only from Preston to Dundee in 1998. All the other times I slept in the normal coaches... I woke up (red 47/7 at the front) and realised it was nearly time to get off. Incredibly tired, I stepped out into the corridor to find an enormous red haired guy who was actually wearing a kilt and was staring out wistfully at the mist on the water as we crossed the Tay.
I mumbled "good morning" at him just to be friendly.
He just stared at me though, which was a little unnerving to be honest.
I sometimes wonder if it was all a dream, but I don't think it was :lol:
Cheers! I think you would miss it down there - I guess you'd get bored of the stuff in Scotland pretty soon after moving up...

Sounds like a weird experience with the Scottish guy - maybe it was a dream...

Also, vote res Brush!
 

Techniquest

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I love 314s, end of. I cleared them quite some time ago and I will miss them when they go. They've done well considering they were due to be withdrawn something like 10 years ago at one point!

I need 3 320/3s and all the 320/4s, the /4s I need all of them for sight as well.
 

Kite159

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I need 1x 320/3, all the 320/4s, 3x 318s, 1x334. Plus 8x 380s (4 of both /0s & /1s).

The voyager is one of the few moments over the Southern suburban loop, gets a slightly annoying gap in my coverage out of the way. Probably will be better than the 170 coming back ;)
 
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185143

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Errm... FREE first class return to London, first time I've had a London bash since February and you know exactly which ticket I used to get to Cov!

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
 

FQ

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I love 314s, end of. I cleared them quite some time ago and I will miss them when they go. They've done well considering they were due to be withdrawn something like 10 years ago at one point!

I need 3 320/3s and all the 320/4s, the /4s I need all of them for sight as well.
OK, end of. You're misguided but end of ;). They should've been withdrawn 10 years ago - they're old, out of date and awful now ;).

After my first ever visit to Glasgow I'm beating you on the baby bins! Wow (I need 2 320/3s and 1 320/4). Which /3s do you need?

I need 1x 320/3, all the 320/4s, 3x 318s, 1x334. Plus 8x 380s (4 of both /0s & /1s).

The voyager is one of the few moments over the Southern suburban loop, gets a slightly annoying gap in my coverage out of the way. Probably will be better than the 170 coming back ;)
Not bad, that's for sure! Only 1 334?! You're doing 10 times better than me! I'm beating you on the 320s though as you need 8 of them! Which /3 do you need?

Do it on a railtour to avoid the UHT! Better than the 170 coming back?!?!?! *Collapses due to shock* ;).

Errm... FREE first class return to London, first time I've had a London bash since February and you know exactly which ticket I used to get to Cov!
Your ticket may have been cheap to get to Cov but it still stands that you paid to travel from Manchester to Coventry to do a return trip to London on a voyager ;). So not worth it!
 

palmersears

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An excellent read, fishquinn. Every time I read of somebody's exploits in Scotland I become extremely jealous, but to see you had four days in and around there has got me trying to work out when I can book time off next year for a trip up there! I’ve yet to get a single Scotrail unit in the bag :(
 
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Kite159

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It's finding a railtour which goes up to Scotland which is booked to do freight lines ;)

320301 is my remaining 320/3 (334032 of the 334s). I haven't even spotted the 320/4s (entered traffic after my last Glasgow trip)
 

Techniquest

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320314/315/322/
411/412/413/414/415/416/417

are my 320 needs. Like Kite, the 320/4s entered traffic after my last visit, which was quite some months back. I need to go up more often!
 

FQ

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An excellent read, fishquinn. Every time I read of somebody's exploits in Scotland I become extremely jealous, but to see you had four days in and around there has got me trying to work out when I can book time off next year for a trip up there! I’ve yet to get a single Scotrail unit in the bag :(
Cheers! You're going to need to get up there. If you struggle choosing between Glasgow and Edinburgh then certainly go for Glasgow - so much variety. Spend time on Central high level, Partick and Queen Street high level, probably more time at Partick than the others.

It's finding a railtour which goes up to Scotland which is booked to do freight lines ;)

320301 is my remaining 320/3 (334032 of the 334s). I haven't even spotted the 320/4s (entered traffic after my last Glasgow trip)
Good point...

I've had 301! I haven't yet had 334032 though...

320314/315/322/
411/412/413/414/415/416/417

are my 320 needs. Like Kite, the 320/4s entered traffic after my last visit, which was quite some months back. I need to go up more often!
I've had the first two but 320322 is my last required one for sight :(. You'll need to get yourself back up there! ;)
 

FQ

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I'm going to Scotland for a week in January ;)
Ah, of course. You'll probably clear a few classes while up there!




Which way at the T-junction?

Saturday the 3rd of November was meant to be a day in London with Dom395 but something else came up for him that he couldn't not do, so I decided to think of this. This coincided with me noticing a VERY risky fares anomaly but you know me! Nat and I just had to do it so I let him know and we decided to do it on the 3rd. I got prepared for what may happen in the days before it and it really was a T-junction. It could go one of two ways.

Tickets were booked the night before and we were soon getting to bed, Nat coming over for a sleepover so we could do some model railway work in the evening. We got to bed at about 23:30 and I slept well until about 04:50, at which point I tried but failed to get back to sleep, giving up at 05:25 and heading down to the computer to complete my mileage from Glasgow (it took a long time, that's for sure!). We were getting the 07:21 so we needed to head out at 06:50 for it, so I woke dad and Nat at 06:30, but had to wake Nat again at 06:40. We were soon all up and, after putting a banana in my bag for later, we were heading out through the darkness in the car for Leam station, which was reached about 15 minutes later. Dad was said bye to and our tickets for the day collected before we wandered up to platform 2 for the wait before the Brum cart. It was running a minute or so late (don't you just hate Manchester bound 221s?) but was soon arriving, with 168323 providing the power. I did an RTT check while on board (I know - early), which showed that a late running tour that was due through while we waited (I didn't even know about it before seeing the departure board at Leam) was from Newport to Newcastle. After that we chilled out in the rubbish 170 for the ride.

This is probably the Chiltern 170 that is in the worst state that I've been on. The seat cushion came off when I moved and the lock in the disabled toilet didn't work. Poor show! At least we weren't in it for too long, as we were soon getting off at Moor Street. Surprisingly, the Marylebone cat hadn't passed us at Bordesley as it usually does, so we checked the departure board to see that it was running 10 late. This was annoying as it should form the service we'd get back from London but we wanted to pay the New Street 1st class lounge a visit before our first train, the 08:30 from New Street to Euston (it was now 08:00 so we didn't want to sacrifice 5 minutes of lounge time just to find out what cat we'd get later in the day).

We were soon at New Street after a quick walk over, and headed over to the first class lounge. We checked the big departure board first, seeing that our train was boarding, but noting that both the 08:10 and 08:14 services to Euston had been caped due to a train fault. It seemed a strange co-incidence that two services to Euston had been caped so we expected some sort of delay on our service too, which was now additionally stopping at Milton Keynes (it should have been Birmingham International, Coventry, Watford Junction and Euston). We then headed onward to the first class lounge, which was very annoyingly shut! Why? Just why?

Now pretty annoyed, we decided to go and watch 1V44 leave to get some early morning tram thrash, but decided against this a couple of seconds later due to the 08:30 probably being busy (because both the 08:10 and 08:14 were caped). We headed down to the platform for it and were pleased to see a pendo there. Sure, it was high mileage, dud for 100 390132, but at least it wasn't an unspeakably horrible thing! We headed to the 1st class coaches, and selected an unreserved bay of 4 in coach H before chilling out, with just under 25 minutes until booked departure.

As expected, the train did fill up towards departure time, me ending up with someone sat next to me. The guard did a few announcements before setting off, saying that we'd be very, very busy today due to us carrying 4 trainloads of people (!) and that people should use the entire length of the train to try and find somewhere to sit (or, more likely, stand). He didn't specifically say that 1st class was declassified but it kind of sounded like he was implying it. We were just going to take anything that came - after all, our tickets are bonkers and we're in the posh seats anyway! He also said that the reason for the previous diversions and cancellations was due to a broken down train at Rugby (yep, it was actually a voyager!) but it had now been cleared now.

The guy sat next to us and his two mates in the bay of 2 opposite were friendly enough too, and we relaxed, departing right time at 08:30.

We were soon leaving Coventry, no 1st class service or ticket check having occurred so far. The guard did another announcement, saying, once again; to use the whole of the train and that there was a buffet for standard class passengers. He also told 1st class passengers to go to the kitchen at the very front of the train in coach K to collect their complimentary items. Thank god - I wouldn't have wanted to wade through the crowd to get to coach C! I volunteered to get them for both of us but we decided to wait for the crowd to die down (no point in being queuing for ages in coach J) first and I headed up just before the excellent corners around Weedon. There was still a short queue when I got there but I was only waiting 5 minutes before being served. I got an orange juice and a ham and egg sarnie, Nat getting a coffee and a sarnie, and I was soon returning to our seat. We ate brekky as we headed through towards London, slowing just before Hanslope junction, continuing at a slow pace through to MK. It was rather embarrassing being overtaken by a dez, but we passed it again at Wolverton anyway. I wasn't happy to see that one of my last 3 required ones was leading the 12 coach set (really, yep! On a Saturday!) but we weren't going to track it down, that's for sure. We were soon leaving MK, where Nat got someone sitting next to him, and continued to Euston, currently running 10-late according to the guard. We picked up speed fairly quickly and were soon racing along the WCML. Nat was worried that I'd see two winner 387s in Bletchley that he'd already seen, as he's now down at Rugby station every afternoon due to his collage being there. He was glad to see that I wasn't to score the two 387s that had been on test the week before, as it was nothing but loads of dezes on the yard. The 1st class host announced just after we passed through Cheddington that she would no longer be offering complimentary refreshments due to us approaching Euston - which was slightly comedic. Apparently the definition of 'approaching' has now been extended to 36 miles and a booked half an hour!

The curve at Berkhamstead was just excellent with the tilt and we rather enjoyed that bit. Unfortunately, just after Hemel, the brakes came on and we crawled from there to Watford, losing 5 minutes in the process. A 377 was strangely departing for Croydon from the bay platform and we were soon overtaking it just outside the station after gaining speed again. We got a good view of a 378 as it crossed the very large bridge to head towards Watford High Street out form Bushey and we were soon racing towards the capital. Passing under the Chiltern mainline, a 168 was seen heading towards Marylebone but we managed to get the number, giving a 'what are the odds' moment, as it was the 170 that had taken us from Leamington to Moor Street on its way back (the 08:15 from Moor Street), with a 4 coach 168 that we'd seen at Moor Street! It was very odd to see that and we saw another rather odd thing in Wembley depot - a 375. It was one of the new liveried ones - probably just made it back to London - with 37884 for company. It was good to see A Shropshire Lad too (67012), with 67029 along for company. There was quite a bit there but we only managed to ID a small amount of it.

We were soon getting to Euston, arriving 15 late, meaning we didn't have time for our little detour to get across to Liverpool Street. We were meant to have exactly an hour before booked departure to Norwich but we only had 45 minutes due to the delay now. Our plan was to head across to St Pancras for Thameslink to Blackfriars and back to Farringdon for the silver worm over (we also equipped ourselves with travelcards to do the cross London transfer and as a backup if our tickets weren't accepted) but we'd only have time for a bit of that now, as we headed to the Victoria line (I hoped to score a set getting across to the cross). We arrived on a non-barriered platform, with no manual checks, so had no problems ticket validity wise, and went to the Victoria line. After the long walk to the platform, we saw that winner 11071+11072 had already arrived so it was straight on for the one stop hop to Kings Cross St Pancras, were a long walk had us on the Farringdon bound Thameslink platform. We weren't too happy to see that the next service wasn't for another 7 minutes, even more so after seeing that it was a Sutton service formed of 4 coaches so would probably be a 319. It was indeed one of Thameslink's worst class, winner 319446. We now didn't have too long to get to Liverpool Street, so could only take it to Farringdon, where we had 18 minutes until booked departure of our skoda.

We had a quick walk over the bridge to get onto the Liverpool Street bound tube platform and we were soon there, watching winner 21092+21091 arrive on a Metropolitan line service. We got on board and easily got seats for the ride along the line to Liverpool Street, getting there with 10 minutes left.

We headed to the normal exit to the heavy rail platforms, but found that they were quite literally digging it up, so there was no direct access to the concourse. This caused loads and loads of crowds heading to the small amount of ticket barriers and small exit from the tube platform, but we eventually squeesed through to get out onto the street, where it was across the road and into the national rail station, glad to be out of the huge crowd. We headed down the escalator to get to the main concourse and found that our service, the 10:56 to Norwich, was on platform 9. I got my first 317/7 for sight on the walk over to the skoda, and it was through open barriers to see dud 90014 waiting to take us to Norwich. I've only had 5 of the 15 (as had Nathan, who was also irritated). We got on board to find that most of the 1st class seats were reserved or taken. There was one bay of 2 (with a table in the middle) that was neither but it looked different to the others and was kind of like an ironing board seat. We reluctantly took them and simply waited for departure, me giving dad a call to let him know how it was going just before departure (heading to the vestibule for it). The rubbish skoda was soon pushing us out of Liverpool Street and into the suburbs.

We relaxed as we headed out on this 'fast' service, stopping at Colchester, Manningtree, Ipswich, Diss and Norwich, and we got up to some fairly good speed before Stratford. We then slowed again and crawled through platform 10, accelerating just after the station. The was little on Ilford depot but we identified several 315s at some sidings on the right hand side as we passed. We then continued on towards Anglia.

A ticket check occurred about 15-20 minutes out of Liverpool Street, and the guard was very confused with our ticket. We showed him the proof but he was still confused and ended up saying that it'd be quicker getting off at Colchester and going back to Liverpool Street to get to our destination. He agreed that with the proof, our routing should be valid but decided not to let us go for it :(.

We headed to the buffet to get some complimentary refreshments on the journey - an orange juice, a pack of crisps and some biscuits - and relaxed to eat them as we continued towards Colchester. I looked at RTT en route to see how long we'd have to wait at Colchester, but found out that it was only 10-15 minutes so we wouldn't need to fester for long. It was very annoying to have to get off at Colchester because it was all winner track after there and we'd have an hour and 10 minutes in Norwich, which would house loads of winner units for sight and my last of the original cats for sight, 68005. At least it would mean that we'd get some decent use out of our travelcards though.

We were soon approaching Colchester, at which point Nat wanted to head to the very back vestibule, right behind the skoda. Don't ask me why (Billy Joel) - it's an awful loco and it makes no noise! I headed down with him and we got quite a few numbers in Colchester depot before we arrived at Colchester itself. We got a couple of photos of the skoda before changing platforms for the Liverpool Street skoda, knowing that we'd have no problems with ticket validity on this one as the guard on 90014's service had written on the ticket to tell the guard on the way back that we were valid.
Norwich bound 90 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
We first headed to ID the dusty bin in the bay platform that leads out towards Colchester town, me getting a phot of it, and I called dad to say how it was going.
Dusty bin by fishquinn1, on Flickr
We then wandered down the platform to the platform that our skoda back would depart and I got a photo of the two dusty bins in the other bay platform while waiting for our rubbish ex VT skoda to arrive. Why couldn't Anglia have got the 87s instead of the skodas...? I'd be down in Anglia land much more often if they had!
Dusty bin by fishquinn1, on Flickr
The announcements for our service back said that services from Colchester to London were very busy today and that the 12:03 was reported full and standing. He also announced that there was another service 10 minutes behind that would be less busy if some passengers wanted to wait for that. Not a hope!

Winner 90002 was soon arriving and we noticed a free bay of 2 in the front coach (obviously 1st class) which, as I was first on (there was only us boarding in the front coach), I got into the bay of 2, with Nat joining me.
Heading for Liverpool Street by fishquinn1, on Flickr
We were glad that it wasn't the ironing board style seats in this one and it was certainly more comfy. We were soon on the move, identifying another unit that we hadn't yet managed to get in Colchester yard, and we were soon heading along the Great Eastern mainline at about 90 mph, with no noise from the front (no change there then).

I headed up to get complimentary stuff for Nat and I en route, getting an orange juice, crisps and a pack of biscuits each, just like on the way there. We then got seats again and discussed what we were going to do in London. I wanted to do the DLR from Stratford to Stratford International as it was a bit of track that I'd failed to get up to now, so it was irritating me. We decided to get off this skoda at Stratford to linear hop to Liverpool Street on a dusty before going back out to Stratford to get the DLR and then, by Nat's request, get another grotty skoda back to Liverpool Street before heading to Thameslink. This was alright with me so we took 90002 through to Stratford, after stopping at Colchester. Although I hate the AGA skodas with a passion, I have to admit that the nameplate on 002 is pretty damn good. We watched it leave (for no other reason other than the dustys to Liverpool Street would leave from the same platform) and then checked when the next AGA service to Liverpool Street was, finding out that it was only a few minutes. I couldn't stop myself from laughing as I saw the front one of the two as it was one that we'd already seen 3 times so far. It was winner 321315, with another winner, 321322 on the back. We got in 315 for the short ride through to Liverpool Street, where we checked a departure board and found out that we had the choice of a double winner 357 or a double winner 321 back out to Stratford, both leaving at 13:13. You just need to read these reports to know which we went for. Vote winners 321352 and 321359!

We were soon back at Stratford, where we headed to the Stratford Not-International bound DLR platforms. On the way down the stairs I forgot to remove my hand from the handrail before stepping off the bottom one, and my doing so the corner of my thumb got its skin removed by the metal edge. Unfortunately I didn't have anything to clean the blood up with, but kept it under control by...

Well...

Being a vampire...

I know but it did work! We had a 5-minute wait before the next one to International so I did a quick run over to the Canary Wharf bound platforms while we waited, to identify another couple of DLR units. Then it was back down to Nathan, where we now had a 1-minute wait before winners 56 and 10 arrived. Nat wanted to sit up front, but I knew that the chances of us getting a seat up there was slim so, instead of heading for the front, I headed for the back and got decent seats as we watched the track we'd just gone over disappear. This also meant that we were up front for the return journey, on the same set and we were soon back at Stratford.

We had about 10 minutes until the skoda was due to Liverpool Street, so we headed up to the platform and number collected until it arrived. I sustained a second injury while waiting, my knee smashing into a metal box thing that was sticking out of a lamppost. Why does Stratford hate me?

On the way to Liverpool Street on the dusty bins, I'd identified a skoda heading towards Norwich as one of our dud ones. As Nat had seen 90004 heading to Toton earlier in the week, we knew that it could only be two duds. The chance of this was low, as we had 9 winners that it could be. Because of this, we weren't too happy to see dud 90008 arriving. Why does Stratford hate me?

We got on board 1st class (as our tickets were still valid in it) and I headed to the buffet to see if we could get complimentary stuff while Nat did some window hanging. The buffet guy had apparently shut up but was still there so I asked if we could get the complimentary stuff. He said no and asked why we didn't come up sooner but, when I explained that we'd just boarded, he said that he'd get us some. We went for the usual from the buffet and I thanked him profusely for getting it for us before wandering back down the train and getting a seat in an empty bay of 4 for the rest of the journey, drinking my orange juice and eating my biccies and crisps. At Bethnal Green, we overtook a couple of LO 315s, and I was delighted to see that the leading one was my last required LO one, and penultimate one overall! An excellent end to Anglia for the day!

Once at Liverpool Street, a quick platform sweep was done and we then headed to the tube, using the same crammed entrance that we'd used earlier in the day. We then got down onto the Farringdon bound platform just before winner 21353+21354 arrived on a circle line service. We got on board and got seats for the ride, soon getting to Farringdon where we headed to the footbridge to see what was working, and go for stuff fairly easily. We were only on there for a couple of minutes before I saw a Bedford service arriving and knew that I wanted to be on it, as it was winner for everything 700108. This was Nat's first 700 and apparently he doesn't like the smell (new train smell) or seats (ironing boards, so who can blame him). He quite liked them though, and we were soon alighting at St Pancras, where a platform change was done, getting onto the other platform in time to see headlights coming out of the tunnel. Another 700 - excellent! Winner 700106 took us through the tunnels to Blackfriars, where we saw another one in the platform next to us. I knew that we had 9 minutes until this was due to arrive at City Thameslink due to seeing the display there, so we headed over, taking ages to change platforms at this annoying station, with the stupid barriers rejecting our ticket as we tried to go through to get onto the other 700. Luckily the barrier staff were quick at letting us through and we were soon on winner 700112. We took this for the very short hop to Farringdon, where a platform change was had onto a Brighton service. We wanted to get to Clapham Junction for a bit so we decided to take this through to East Croydon, and were glad to see that it was a 700. This was actually my first of the 8 car 700s, winner 700002 being the unit. We got seats on this unit, the door next to our chosen ones being out of order so we had to enter through a different one. We then relaxed as we headed out to Blackfriars before making the usual stagger via Elephant and Castle. It wasn't a fun stagger but was soon over and we strangely saw a 313 in Selhurst - something we certainly weren't expecting! Alas we couldn't ID it, which is annoying as we need all of the Southern ones.

At East Croydon, we forgot the door next to us was out of order so might have been overcarried if I hadn't remembered after seeing all the other ones open except this one! Luckily we got off, and headed onto the footbridge to check when the next Victoria was. It was only in a few minutes, at 15:23, so we headed to the platform and waited for it. Alas it wasn't a treble unit, but double winner 377115 and 377431 would do for the run to Clapham. It was a busy service and I only just managed to get a seat, but it wasn't exactly a long run to Clapham. Nat couldn't be bothered to wander through the train to find a seat and instead just stood in the vestibule we boarded in. That's his own laziness though!

We were soon alighting at Clapham Junction, where we agreed that I'd go looking for haulage scores and Nat would do some spotting. The bottom of my bag felt wet for some reason (it wasn't a rainy day or anything, and the rest of my bag was fine) but I decided that it just must have been something on the 377 and I headed over to the same platform as Nat - 10 - and saw a pair of 455s arriving. I confused the guard as I went to get the numbers and checked them against my required ones for haulage. He asked what I was doing, so I just said getting the numbers, before boarding double winner 5865 and 5855 for the ride to the first stop, Vauxhall. I stayed on the same platform as there was another service due in one minute, and was annoyed to see that it was a dud! I've only had 10 of the 91 SWT ones (excluding the pair I'd just got)! I wasn't taking it and, as the next service from platform 7 was in 5 minutes, I changed to platform 2 and only had to wait 2 more minutes before winners 5870 and 5907 arrived to take me through to Waterloo.

At Waterloo, I did a very quick departure board check, before heading to the main 455 platforms. I saw that the ones leaving soon were all either ones that I'd already had or single units. I then saw an Alton bound 450 pair waiting to depart, so ran over, sure that I'd seen Clapham on the departure board for it. I boarded at the guard's door as there was a matter of moments before it was going to leave. Then I heard it. 'Welcome to this South West Trains service to Alton. Calling at Surbiton...'. I ran off again, saying the guard that I thought it stopped at Clapham, before deciding to get out of Waterloo quickly. I headed to a Dorking service that was running 5 late and got on board, winner 5733 taking me out to Vauxhall, for double winner 5920 and 5723 back. I was planning on getting another service from Vauxhall to Clapham to meet Nat and get a 444 through to Waterloo with him, but a double winner was too hard to resist.

Back at Waterloo, I saw a couple of 450s waiting to work a Hounslow service. I double checked that they stopped at Clapham, seeing that they also stopped at Vauxhall and Queenstown Road. It was double winner 450560 and 450099 that took me back out of Waterloo. We left a couple of minutes late at 16:17 instead of 16:15, and I called Nat to say to get on something that stopped at Vauxhall and meet me there. I took the 450s to Vauxhall as planned and got a call from Nat when I got there to say that he was on 5904. I headed to platform 7, as I assumed that's where he'd arrive on (he was on platform 10 at Clapham spotting so I doubt he'd have gone over to the Windsor platforms to get one). I soon saw 5904 arriving, a score for sight, and looked for Nat on the platform but, when I couldn't see him, called him to ask where he was. The idiot had stayed on because he'd forgotten to get off! I simply told him to meet me under the station clock at Waterloo and that I'd get the next one in. If it was a winner of course ;).

Winner 5708 was the first one in so I took it to Waterloo and met Nat with no problem. It was now probably the sort of time we'd need to head to Marylebone, it being about 16:30 with our cat departing at 17:10. I was hungry though so we wandered outside to Sainsbury's local (thanks for the tip Kite!) and got a couple of large scotch eggs and 10 mini beef pasties. Well, it might have been 10. There was a little star next to the 10, which said 'average amount' when you looked at it. Have I seen that before buying, I would have counted the amount in each one until I found one with over 10 ;).

We were soon heading down to the Bakerloo line, where a 2 minute wait on a very, very busy platform was had before one arrived. We got on board (we'd walked down to the end of the platform where there was much fewer people) but, after a couple of minutes sitting there doing nothing, the driver announced that there was a track circuit failure at Warwick Avenue and that trains were being severely delayed and held. Great. We decided to leave as we had no idea how long we'd be waiting here or if we'd be stuck in a tunnel for ages, so we took the very, very long trek over to the Jubilee line and got there as a set was leaving. I had felt the bottom of my bag again and found out that it was now even wetter and sticky too. I had no idea why, so I headed over to a bench and opened my bag, putting my hand in to see if it was something in my bag. Well, you know how I'd put a banana in my bag earlier in the day? It had kind of... well... liquefied. Yep, not exactly pleasant to put your hand in a bag to get loads of banana much covering it. I wasn't exactly thrilled at this, knowing that it would also have covered everything in my bag, but decided to clean it up when at Marylebone or, if we made the 17:10 by some miracle, then the train. Luckily it was only a minute until the next, winners 96080 and 96003 taking us through to Baker Street. We'd resigned ourselves to missing the 17:10 now, as it was 17:01 when we arrived at Baker Street. We didn't want to have to run to Marylebone from here and doubted that the Bakerloo would play ball to get us there in time. It was a basic cross platform change here and, about 2 minutes later, winner 3562 and dud 3261 were arriving. We got on board and the driver announced that there was the track circuit failure and that we were just waiting to get clearance to Marylebone. This took 4-5 minutes and we were soon moving to Marylebone. It was then up onto the concourse, and we got there to see that the DVT on the 17:10 had just started moving. Oh for goodness sake, why?

We now had an hour to wait before the 18:10 and I really wanted to get my bag cleaned out, so we wandered over to the toilets to find that you needed to pay 30p to use them! Not a hope! Instead, we headed to a place completely out of the way on the concourse and got some napkins from Upper Cost to clean it out. As expected, the majority of stuff in my bag was covered, but I managed to get the worst off things and the worst off my bag. I have a couple of carrier bags in there, one of which was coated in the stuff, so I made a mental note to put that in the wash when I got home and, over the period of 25 minutes, had a relatively clean bag. I was glad to get rid of it, but ticked off that it had happened. Other than trains, this day hadn't gone too well for me! Everything had gone well for Nat, who had seen an RHTT come through Clapham while he was spotting with two winner EDs (winners for me too) and had got two and a half pages of numbers full in the time period he was there, compared to my half a page. He hadn't hurt himself at all (damn you Stratford - that bruise isn't exactly nice and the cut is a pain too) and had got many more winners than me.

We ate some of the beef pasties while waiting for the ECS for our service, and headed to the information point which I knew from past experience had a live signaling display for Marylebone. We got to see an ECS approaching from Wembley on it - 5H50 - which we were very much hoping was the ECS for our service (1G53) as, if it wasn't, the 18:10 would be formed of something already in the station (a cart). We were very relieved when we saw that 5H50 had been routed into platform 3 (an empty one which has enough platform space for a cat+6 coaches+DVT), with the next working from 3 being 1G53 accoring to that. We left the information booth and headed over to the platforms, wandering down to see DVT headlights approaching. I had no idea which cat was with 82304 so it could be one of our first choices. My first choice was Gingertom for obvious reasons (best cat and all that), Nat's 11 as it was low mileage for him and he hadn't had it for over a year. I ran ahead to get the cat number before Nat, and he knew which one it was with my reaction. Hi again 68014!

I put my hand on the loco for a moment after it had stopped and a member of Chiltern staff told me off, saying that it was dangerous and wasn't allowed. Guess what he did moments after? Complete hypocrite!

We got on board, after Nat put his hand on GT for about 10 seconds just to spite the staff member (who wasn't looking at the time), and got the usual partition bay of 4. The service filled up lots and was full and standing upon departure from Marylebone, with someone sat next to both Nat and I. We ate our scotch eggs while listening to GT make some of the best noises I've ever heard a 68 make, and we were soon racing along towards Leamington.

No ticket check occurred on this service and, after one hell of a great journey with GT, we were alighting at Leam. We obviously watched her thrash off towards Birmingham before heading to the car park, where we were waiting for a couple of minutes as Nat's mum was running slightly late. She was soon here and we got in for the ride home, after a mixed day. It's a shame we didn't make it to Norwich but at least we got loads of scores in London instead. Other than the 1st class lounge being shut and all of the guff that I had happen to me, it was a brilliant day, and I'm glad we went.
 

Techniquest

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3rd November? Or do you mean 3rd December?

Shame you didn't get to Norwich, but you had a decent day haulage wise it would appear. Stratford definitely doesn't like you though :lol:
 

Kite159

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If changing trains at Blackfriars, use the southern end of the platform, no barriers that side ;)

That Alton service might have stopped at Clapham to pick up, although in all fairness as you had travelcards you could have remained on for the fast trip to Surbiton for some 450 speed ;)

Sounded like a good day, shame the guard on the Norwich decided not to play ball with your dodgy tickets, just be careful as a smart guard might report it up the chain with the loophole plugged.
 

FQ

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Hi guys!

Sorry for taking such a long time to reply - I've been on a multi day bash with very little internet time (stupidly early starts and late finishes).

3rd November? Or do you mean 3rd December?

Shame you didn't get to Norwich, but you had a decent day haulage wise it would appear. Stratford definitely doesn't like you though :lol:
Yep, 3rd of December. I'm stuck in the past ;)

It was a good day, that's for sure!

If changing trains at Blackfriars, use the southern end of the platform, no barriers that side ;)

That Alton service might have stopped at Clapham to pick up, although in all fairness as you had travelcards you could have remained on for the fast trip to Surbiton for some 450 speed ;)

Sounded like a good day, shame the guard on the Norwich decided not to play ball with your dodgy tickets, just be careful as a smart guard might report it up the chain with the loophole plugged.
Thanks for the tip there - it'll come in handy for future!

Looking at RTT, it didn't stop at Clapham and I didn't have time to get to Surbiton.

It's an odd loophole that'll probably remove itself at some point but hopefully it'll have a while left!

Great report FQ, sounds like you had a good day. :)
Thanks!




Seven day season day 1 - Across the banks

With some more of my month off, I decided to get a 7-day season ticket and bash trams. This would be a mega tram fest and would start on Tuesday the 6th of December, with something slightly different to usual. It would be using GWR and Cross Country trams and would be my usual run to Reading via Bristol, except on the Tuesday when I'd be doing something different, using only Cross Country. With the title, can you tell where I was going? The 435-mile round trip to Plymouth of course!

I got to bed at about 23:00 on the Monday night, with an alarm set for 05:30. I'd obviously be heading in with dad and woke when dad came in to the boat to say bye to T and I before heading to work! I'd slept through my alarm and dad had forgotten that i was going in with him. Luckily I had a few minutes to get up and ready, heading out about 5 minutes after getting up. It wasn't so cold this morning, so de-icing the car took less than a minute, and we were soon heading to Leamington, getting there 15 minutes later. It was then the walk over to the station, of which I ran the last bit as I didn't have too long to get my ticket. It took as long to issue as an ordinary one, as I already had a photocard, and we were soon on platform 2 waiting for the 06:24, which was formed by 165003 this morning, one that I hadn't had for over a year (back on my FOSS strangely enough). We got the usual bay of 2 on board and I tried t get some sleep using dad's shoulder and my jacket as a pillow while he read his rail magazine.

We got to Snow Hell a few minutes late, just as the 07:07 to Marylebone was arriving, and headed over to Subway for brekky as per usual. One of the two regulars was serving us this morning, and she commented on how much taller I was compared to when I was last in there, which was all the way back in September! We got our mega melts and then headed over to dad's work, dad having to use his pass to get us in through the front door. Dad had an argument with the laptop while we were there but it eventually loaded, showing dad the times to Tyseley that he needed for a course there during the day. He'd need to head out of Snow Hell on the 08:03, so we decided to wander out together, heading off at about 07:55.

Sainsbury's was visited to get dad some lunch en route, as was Cafe Nero for his coffee, and we then said bye before he headed to Snow Hell, me going for New Street. A tram was arriving at Corporation Street heading for New Street at the same time as I was passing, so I stayed to look through the windows as it arrived to check if there was an RPI on board. I couldn't see one so decided to board for the ride down the hill on 26. I know - not exactly a good thing to get used to but, come on, why not? Anyway, the child single from Corporation Street to New Street is a rip off 50p (it's 9 chains) so is not worth paying, something that I'd done before, so I was just getting the value out of that 50p :lol:.

It had was 07:55 when I got to New Street, so I had time to get across to Tesco to get some lunch, as I was to be on a train all day apart from 40 minutes in Plymouth, where I didn't think there'd be much. I got a meal deal (sausage, bacon and egg triple sarnie, pack of crisps and a drink) from here before heading over to New Street and onto platform 11 to await the arrival of 'V44. It was in after a couple of minutes and, as expected, 43304 was leading, 43301 trailing. This was the reason I'd decided to go to Plymouth today. 301 was my lowest mileage XC powercar at a mere 147 miles, so the extra mileage would do very good for it, but the thing that made my decision definite was 304, as it'd be cleared by the end of the day. I found a bay of 4 and sat down, and we were soon on the move out through the New Street tunnels. I was wedged out at Cheltenham but was glad to see that his ticket was to Temple Meads and, sure enough, he left there. A couple of red deaths were seen in Barton Hill on a squirty train and 66750 in Gloucester yard with no other locos before Temple Meads. After we left Bristol I was on track that I hadn't been on since 2013 and, although it isn't as boring as Cheltenham to Yate, it was quite dull. I got my now pretty much wrecked cards out (don't you love mushy banana) and unstuck them all from each other before playing some patience. I gave up for a bit after losing my first two rounds and played a game that I'd made up (immediately telling you that you wouldn't want to play it ;)), which lasted a very long time. I'd started playing before Bridgwater and was still playing the same round by Totnes!

We were soon approaching Exeter, going over the infamous Cowley bridge (hi Cowley ;)), and I stopped my card game for a bit just before Exeter St Thomas. I wonder why...

I'd forgotten how much I love the stretch of track along the sea (and other areas of water) on this stretch and it was a shame to leave it, even for a few hours. Still, the banks after Newton Abbott are just as good! The line between Newton Abbot and Plymouth is, in my opinion, the same decency as the bit between Exeter and Newton Abbot, and it was great to hear the MTU engines powering away as they tackled the hills and wound around the many curves, a lot of which were on viaducts. It was a great run and we were soon ending the 217.5-miles journey, seeing most of 70803 (cab missing) and the pretendolino, along with a couple of tram sets.

I got off at Plymouth and got phots of both powercars before changing platform to get some of the other side. I didn't need a phot of either powercar (especially 304, which now probably has about 50 phots in my collection) but it was Plymouth, a place I rarely visit, so some photos had to be got.
Cross Country at Plymouth by fishquinn1, on Flickr
A great western set was soon arriving, the front powercar required for a photo, so I got a few snaps of them before watching it leave and getting photos of the Cross Country set from the other platform.
43037 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Heading for Paddington by fishquinn1, on Flickr
43301 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Plymouth by fishquinn1, on Flickr
I then headed back over to 43301 and 43304 and got on board, easily finding an unreserved bay of 4 in the same coach that I'd gone to Plymouth in (F). The lunch I'd got in Brum was then eaten while I waited for departure, which was on time at 12:25.

We were soon going back along the great line towards Exeter, the trash (as always) great. We were soon finishing the twisty-turny section at Newton Abbot. The view of the sea was great as usual and I got my cards out when it got dull, on the approach to Exeter. Not too many people boarded here and we were soon heading onward, getting to Temple Meads an hour later.

I didn't get wedged out from Bristol, where many people boarded, but that probably had something to do with my cards, which were covering the table at this point. Anyway, I didn't get wedged out at all on the journey.

I headed to the vestibule as we passed Bromsgrove for some MTU thrash up Lickey, and stayed up all the way to the bat cave. The stagger was probably the worst I've had, slowing before Northfield and, despite passing Barnt Green on time, arrival at New Street was 12-late. This meant I only had 7 minutes to get to Moor Street before my train back to Leam. I ran between the two, getting to Moor Street in two minutes, with 4 until the 16:15 Marylebone. I could soon see headlights in the tunnel and I saw that it'd be 168001 taking me back. Certainly not as good as 68013, which dad got 20 minutes before!

The journey back to Leam was soon over and I got off the grotty cart and headed to dad, who was waiting on the platform. We then headed to the car together and we were soon back home.

As I mentioned at the start, I'd cleared my first powercar by the time I got to Cheltenham! This, and the fact that 301 is now at a much more respectable mileage than it was at the start of the day are two of the many reasons I had a great day. One powercar cleared for 1000... 193 to go...
 

Dhassell

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Sounds like you had a nice HST Ride! Even thought it was a little busy!
The two sheds on Barton Hill would have been 66104 and 66106
 

Kite159

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I'm shocked, no semi-dodgy loophole tickets this time? ;)

Congrats on clearing your first 43 for 1000 miles
 
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Cowley

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Excellent. Just caught up on all the recent reports and even got a mention in the last one :).
Very enjoyable reading MrQ. Always nice to see bits from down here too. The bit between Newton Abbot and Plymouth I agree is lovely and it's a good section to hear diesels working hard, powering down and then opening up again, I think it used to be 60mph olong most of it because of the curves, apart from the bit past Laire and up Hemerdon which was faster
I must say I'm continually impressed at the amount of places you get to.

Talking about HSTs, I still haven't seen 43002 in blue yet, can you believe that? I go across the level crossing at St David's at least 4 times a day (I'm probably one of the only people to not mutter something rude when the lights go red), I can see the trains go past from various places in the garden and even upstairs in the house yet not once has it been 43002 that's gone past when I've been looking :(
 
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55013

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A very nice out and back trip there.
Congratulations on your first power car past 1000 miles.
 

Techniquest

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Congratulations on clearing your first power car for The Magical Thou! A nice and easy day there, except for the run to Moor Street!

I have no idea what my HST mileage is these days, but it's a lot!
 

FQ

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Sounds like you had a nice HST Ride! Even thought it was a little busy!
The two sheds on Barton Hill would have been 66104 and 66106
It was an excellent day, that's for sure. Yep, it was those two red deaths. They got sighted every day that week in the end!

Great read there, FQ. :)
Cheers!

I'm shocked, no semi-dodgy loophole tickets this time? ;)

Congrats on clearing your first 43 for 1000 miles
Yep, that's what my season was! A loophole... Semi-dodgy? Nope. Dodgy ;)!

Thanks! Hopefully there'll be more powercars to follow!

Excellent. Just caught up on all the recent reports and even got a mention in the last one :).
Very enjoyable reading MrQ. Always nice to see bits from down here too. The bit between Newton Abbot and Plymouth I agree is lovely and it's a good section to hear diesels working hard, powering down and then opening up again, I think it used to be 60mph olong most of it because of the curves, apart from the bit past Laire and up Hemerdon which was faster
I must say I'm continually impressed at the amount of places you get to.

Talking about HSTs, I still haven't seen 43002 in blue yet, can you believe that? I go across the level crossing at St David's at least 4 times a day (I'm probably one of the only people to not mutter something rude when the lights go red), I can see the trains go past from various places in the garden and even upstairs in the house yet not once has it been 43002 that's gone past when I've been looking :(
Thanks! It is good fun to get down to your end of the country, as it's a bit I rarely visit.

You'll need to ask for some gen on it and get down to the crossing at a time it's due through, just so you can see it ;). Have you seen 43185 in IC Swallow yet?

A very nice out and back trip there.
Congratulations on your first power car past 1000 miles.
Thanks!

Congratulations on clearing your first power car for The Magical Thou! A nice and easy day there, except for the run to Moor Street!

I have no idea what my HST mileage is these days, but it's a lot!
Cheers, the run to Moor Street is never good fun on a 165...

I can well imagine that it's a lot, that's for sure! I'm up to 19,311 track miles, with 38,622 tram miles.





Seven day season day 2 - Fingers crossed

December and we still hadn't had our mainline brush for the year so we'd been keeping an eye on the West Coast tours to see if any produced a couple of brush. If none did by the last West Coast one, we'd go for the ROG brush from Kings Cross to Ely, but we didn't really want to go for that one because it was only a single trip and involved driving to Ely. Luckily the Barrow-Bath tour on Wednesday the 7th of December was shown as a pair of brush and, as it was last pickup Warrington, we had a drive. Gen was confirmed the evening before, after I got back from Plymouth, so I called Nat and arranged for him to come for a sleepover. We got to bed at about 22:00 in the end and I had set my alarm for 04:00 ready for the day ahead.

I got a good enough sleep and was soon getting up to the beeping of my alarm. I got ready, as did Nat, and we were soon heading out just before 04:30. The tour didn't leave Warrington until 08:28 but we didn't want to be tackling the M6 at 07:00 or getting into Warrington at 08:00 so we thought to get there early and get some brekky. I got some kip on the drive up, and we were getting there just over two hours after setting off. The car park in Slutchers Lane was used but it took a while to figure out how to get in, as it wouldn't give us a car parking ticket. In the end dad headed to the help point and got through to the ticket office, who said that we had to press the telephone button on the car parking ticket machine to speak to someone at the company that operates it, who would then open the barrier for us. We'd then have to go to the station . It was a faff but we were soon in the car park, where we decided to wait in the warm for a bit. We noticed that almost all of the cars in the car park were very expensive, posh ones (ours and two others that we could see being old ones). There wasn't any shortage of cars in there either, for 06:30!

We headed to the station at just before 07:00 and spent a few minutes waiting for a parking ticket before wandering into Warrington. We saw a Wetherspoon after a short walk but, unfortunately, it only served brekky from 08:00. We continued and then, after a fairly long walk, decided that Warrington was rubbish for brekky, the options being McRancids or Subway. Dad got a coffee from Cafe Nero and, wanting brekky, I quickly ruled out McRancids. Nat likes it but I most certainly don't! We went for Subway, going for mega melts (well, Nat and I did - dad didn't want brekky). We took them back to the station and then waited, seeing shovel 10 head towards Mancc on the morning Arriva loco hauled service.
Shovel 10 by fishquinn1, on Flickr

We continued waiting for a bit and, about 15 minutes later, we heard a roar in the distance. It got louder and louder and about 2 minutes later I recognized the noise. Another two minutes passed before we could see it and the noise coming off cats 22 and 3 was just amazing! They were coming through at a brilliant pace and you could hear them from miles! Not only that, but 68023 was a score for sight for all of us.

We continued waiting and, due to everything coming south running slightly late, our tour was arriving at just after 08:45, about 20-late. We were glad to see a brush leading and it was one that we expected, 47804. This loco was one of my last two required operational West Coast brush for haulage (245 being the other) so it was great to get it at long last. We got on board and headed to a steward, asking if they had room for pay on the day and, sure enough, there was. He said to go and get a seat and that the train manager would be along soon so we went into a virtually empty (just us and staff) declassified 1st class coach (in a bay of 4) and relaxed as 804 thrashed us south.

We headed straight down the Westie, picking up a few more crew members at Crewe, and were soon passing through Stafford, heading down the Trent Valley. A pendo that had overtaken us before Stafford was passed there while it had its stop and it was soon coming past again, giving me the chance to get a couple of photos.
Passing pendo by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Passing pendo by fishquinn1, on Flickr
I got a bit of sleep between Tamworth and Nuneaton, where we took a right and headed onto the line towards Coventry. This was my first time travelling on this line with the new stations open, and it surprised me how many enthusiasts were on the platform at Bermuda Park waiting for us to come through. We continued through to Coventry, where a crew change was had, before taking another right and going onto the line through to Leam. I hadn't been on this line since 2012 despite seeing part of it every time I go to Leam station, so it was good to get it again. Nat and I went to window hang just before joining on with probably my most traveled stretch of track in the country. We went through platform 3 instead of the centre roads but it was great to hear the sulzer engine thrash away after the slow line speed for the sharp curve just before the station. It was pretty ironic to be passing through Leam station (and getting even closer to home as we went, getting to about 3 miles from it) having got up at 04:00 and driven over 2 hours to get on the tour, that's for sure! It felt weird enough at Cov, let alone my local!

We continued down the familiar line to Aynho Junction where, instead of hanging a left like I almost always do, we continued straight along towards Oxford. Around Heyford I went to the vestibule window and, a few moments after passing the station, our loud MK2 brakes sounded and we came to a stop at a red signal. While we were stopped there (behind an ex Banbury cart that stopped at both Heyford and Tackley), we were very surprised to see something approaching. It was a GWR unit, which obviously isn't odd at Heyford, but it was the class that was very strange. 150002! It was heading to Wabtec but was a very weird thing to see.

We saw a few Chiltern units at Oxford on driver testing runs both before and after we raced through the centre roads. I scored a winner gronk at Hinksey and we were soon heading on the line towards Didcot, but turned off before Didcot, on the winner track (first of the day) that is Foxhall curve. We were soon joining on with the GWML through to Swindon and we were then racing along at 95mph. Dad got some kip on this bit and it was an absolute storm through platform 4 at Swindon. We then continued along the Great Western Mainline and were soon racing through Chippenham at brilliant speed. We woke dad around box tunnel so he had time to come round before we got to Bath, a couple of minutes late just after 12:50. We watched the brush leave ECS towards Bristol, confirming that it was indeed 47854 on the back and not a bodysnatcher. Thank god!

Our plan for the time in Bath was to do Bristol leaps on trams but, as we needed to get some lunch, we decided to view the 13:00 and, if it was dull, go and get some lunch to get the one half an hour later. Dad needed one of the powercars for the year but, as we'd be getting it back from Temple Meads to Bath anyway, we headed out and got lunch. The Sainsbury's local near the station was rubbish - small with no warm things and wedged - so got flagged and we continued wandering. A Greggs was found a couple of minutes later so we decided to go for that and get saussie rolls. Nat got two saussie rolls, dad and I going for 4 and each getting a cake (me a custard slice, dad an apple danish). We took them back to the station, got tickets for Nat and dad (I had my season) and then headed to the platform, where we ate lunch. 'Charter train' was noticed on the boards for the Chippenham/Bradford bound platform at exactly the same time as us too, so we should see that. Dad reckoned that it was a Northern Belle as there were many smartly dressed people on the other platform and, sure enough, it was soon announced as the Belmond Northern Belle. It certainly wasn't platform staff doing the announcement as it said that passengers on the tour would be greeted with champagne when boarding and would then have a 7-course meal (7? What the heck are the other 4 that I can't think of?) whilst on board. Cheap advertising?

The Belle was soon arriving, and Nat was pleased to see one of his required cats leading (dud for dad and I). That was in less than a minute before our tram set to Temple Meads, required for 100 (dud for the year) 43070 leading, with dud for both 100 and year 43153 trailing. We got on board and were soon at Bristol Temple Meads, having passed the tour stabled in Kingsland Road sidings on the way and saw that the cat on the back of the Northern Belle was required for all of us 68023. We were soon getting to Temple Meads, where the rear powercar was identified (we were at the front at Bath) and, after finding that it was required for a photo, I got one.
Bristol tram by fishquinn1, on Flickr
I also needed 070 and 43015, which was on the back of our next set, dud for a photo 43156 up front. Neither of this pair were needed for the year or 100 for me, but dad needed 156 for the year. Alas, phots weren't possible of 015 and 070 because, powercars at that end of the train stop at the very end of the platform at Temple Meads (just before the ramp) so you'd have to trespass to get the photos.

We had soon finished the short journey and I noticed that it's possible to get a photo of the rear powercar on Paddington services at Bath, so I headed down and got a few photos of 43015 to cross it off my list.
43015 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
We now had about 15 minutes to wait, seeing a 59 come through before required for 100 and the year (dad also needed it for the year!) 43163 rolled in. At Temple Meads we found out that it was high mileage, dud for the year (for all of us) 43186 on the back, which was exactly 100 away from one of Nat's last two required GWR powercars, 43086. I needed a better photo of 43186, so got one while there.
43186 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
I also got a phot of the powercar that was to be leading us back to Bath, 43097 (required for 100). This was to be taking us there with 43154 (required for the year).
43097 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
I needed a drink now, so headed to the Smiths while waiting and got a couple of juice bursts before going back over to the tram set and getting on board. Again, the journey was over quickly and I was soon getting photos of 43154 at Bath.
43154 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
43154 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
It was then yet another change of platforms for the start of our last Bath leap, with dud 43151 and required for both 100 and the year 43182 taking us back.

We were soon, once again, approaching Bristol Temple Meads. We could soon identify the powercar that would be leading us back to Bath, as we'd pass it before stopping. Nat was very happy at this powercar! It was 43034, his penultimate GWR one! Both dad and I were happy for him, and I was also completely fine with the powercar as it was required for both 100 and the year for me (and maybe dad - I know he needed it for the year).
43034 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
We went to identify the rear powercar before getting on board, dud 43003, before getting on board, Nat running over to the main platform to ID two 153s that had just arrived (it was a good move for him as he scored one of his last two GWR ones for sight).

We were soon on the move, leaving just 43086 for Nat to locate in GWR, and we were running along the line towards Bath Spa for the final time that day, alighting a few minutes later.

We now had 45 minutes until the tour departed, giving us time to go and get something for tea. Our plan was to get some stuff for a buffet kind of thing on board when we wanted it so, as we didn't want to go to Sainsbury's local, we had a walk to try and find something else but I didn't expect any big supermarkets to be located in the city centre. Alas, after a while of walking through the very busy Bath streets (Christmas market means that Bath was heaving), we gave up and headed to the Sainsbury's local via the bank so dad could get some cash out to pay for the railtour. We'd had a visit from the train manager on the way down, and then found out that they can't accept card or cheque and, as we didn't have the cash, we asked if we could get some while in Bath and pay him on the way back. This was fine with him, so that's what we did. At Sainsbury's, we got the stuff that we wanted and Nat and I split the price before heading back to the station. We debated whether to get a hot choc or not but decided against it as none of us really fancied milk at this point (the chocolate bit was good though ;)).

The tour was due in at 16:55 for a 17:01 departure, but arrived 6-early at 16:49. The PIS on the platform said 'terminates here' and actually said that it was from Kingsland Road (well, the code for it), which was quite funky to note. 47854, a winner for Nat, was soon coming past us, and we headed to the same coach that we'd been in for the journey down and got a bay of 4. There was someone who wasn't in the coach on the way down in here, but it was a funky journey through the now-dark countryside. We raced through Chippenham yet again and we were soon drawing to a halt in the centre roads of Swindon, as we were booked to. This was to let a few trams pass, and we managed to ID them. Thankfully none were 43086, as I think Nat may have detonated - I think I may have if 43159 had done that to me when I needed it. Maybe not though, as I was alright with 43308 constantly appearing when I needed it (well, if you call swearing at it under my breath alright ;)). We were soon leaving Swindon (excellent place to get away from! Why? You don't have to suffer Swindon any more ;)) and heading through the countryside towards Didcot. We headed to the buffet to get some cutlery for the part of dinner that required it (cups for the juice, knives to spread Pâté on the bread) before relaxing for the journey towards home (and then away from it again :lol:). We turned away from the GWML at Foxhall junction and was soon joining on with the Oxford branch. It was a decent run up towards Oxford, and we'd soon left that and were heading along the line towards Banbury.

We were booked a pathing stop here so we went into platform 1 but kept rolling until we'd passed the station and the waiting to be demolished North box. We then waited for a 221 to pass on the Mancc before crossing back over and thrashing away towards Leam. Once again we did some window hanging for Leam, this time on the left hand side for the station, as we went through the centres which I think I'd last had on Wrexham and Shropshire shovels in this direction (chiltern shovel in the other direction but I'm probably forgetting something). We went onto the Coventry line again and, as we were running early, we had to wait for the Bournmouth 221 to pass before we could go forward again. It was pretty ironic being at a stop for 5-10 minutes less than 10 miles from home with a long journey on both train and car before we'd get back!

We were soon heading onward again, passing through Coventry this time. We were getting really annoyed at another enthusiast who had joined the other person in the coach, who had a very loud voice and was talking about the most drivel possible in the hobby just non stop. It was really tedious but we didn't say anything.

We were soon back on the Westie and, as we raced north, hot chocolates were got from the buffet. I didn't stir mine properly at first but still got quite a lot of chocolaty flavour (there was lots of powder in there, but it just meant that I could get two hot chocs for the price of one, by asking for a refill of hot water. It was a good enough journey and we were soon on the approach to Warrington. We did a little hanging on the approach and two stewards came into the same vestibule as us before stopping. They were both enthusiasts and we had a quick chat, finding out that one of them lived near Hartford but was staying in Lancaster overnight (too much hassle to go through to Barrow, as it wasn't booked to get there until after midnight). The other one was continuing to Barrow and was going to do some tractor bashing the next day. I have nothing against tractors but it'd be quite a let down after brush ;).

47854 was sounding very sweet as it thrashed out of Bank Quay, despite having dropped quite a lot of oil while braking, being stationary and accelerating (but it stopped dead after a certain speed). We wandered over to the car parking machines and paid a crazy £9 for the days parking before wandering back over to the car and heading home after one hell of an amazing day. Certainly worth the tiredness and cost (I'd been up for about 21 hours by the time we got home), even if I was to get up at 05:20 the next morning, with less than 5 hours potential kip that night. OK, you don't need to tell my I'm crazy - I know!
 
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